Betrayed Son-in-Law: System Awakening

Chapter 05

Kael pushed the van door open and stepped out into the rain.

Lila stood under the broken streetlight. The third ring on her finger glowed with a soft blue light. Her face looked the same, but her eyes did not. They were empty, like glass.

Theo pressed against Kael’s side. “Mommy?”

Kael put one hand on the boy’s shoulder and kept him behind his leg.

“Stay back,” he said quietly.

Seren and Rook got out of the van. Seren’s voice was low. “That is not the Lila you knew. Her system is different. It does not take memories. It only takes other people.”

Lila smiled. The smile did not reach her eyes.

“Hello, Kael. You look surprised. Did you really think you were the only one who came back?”

Kael’s hands curled into fists. “What did they do to you?”

“They gave me a better deal,” Lila said. “No more poverty. No more weak husband. No more useless child. In this life I get to keep everything I want.”

The Truth Echo skill rang hard in Kael’s ears. Every word she spoke carried a false note, but the hatred underneath was real.

Theo’s voice was small. “Mommy, why are your eyes like that?”

Lila looked at the boy for the first time. “You should have stayed dead the first time. It would have been cleaner.”

Kael stepped forward. “Do not speak to him.”

Lila raised her hand. Blue light gathered around her fingers.

The system flashed in Kael’s mind.

[Combat mission available.]

[Mission: Survive the first attack and reach the warehouse door.]

[Reward: Short burst of speed.]

[Cost: One memory of Lila saying she loved you will be erased.]

Kael did not hesitate.

“Take it.”

The memory left him. For a second he could not remember the sound of her voice on their wedding night. The empty space hurt, but new speed flooded his legs.

Lila fired.

A blue spear of light shot toward them. Kael grabbed Theo and moved. The spear hit the van instead. Metal screamed and the vehicle flipped onto its side.

Rook pulled a gun and fired three shots. Lila raised her other hand and the bullets stopped in mid-air, then dropped to the wet ground.

Seren shouted, “Get the boy inside the warehouse! The seal will slow her!”

Kael ran. Theo was light in his arms. He reached the heavy warehouse door and kicked it open. Seren and Rook followed. They slammed the door shut and dropped a thick metal bar across it.

Outside, something heavy hit the door. The metal bent inward.

Kael set Theo down behind a stack of old crates. “Stay low. Do not come out until I call you.”

Theo’s eyes were full of tears, but he nodded.

The door shook again. A blue glow leaked through the cracks.

Seren spoke fast. “The third ring should not exist. Someone outside both systems created it. Lila is only the vessel. The real enemy is using her.”

Kael pulled both silver rings from his pocket. They were warm now, almost hot.

“Can these stop her?”

“Together they can close the door your father sealed,” Seren said. “But only if they touch the seal at the same time. The seal is in the center of this building.”

Another crash. The metal bar cracked.

Kael looked at Seren. “Protect Theo.”

He ran toward the center of the warehouse.

Old machines and broken crates filled the space. At the far end stood a large stone circle half-buried in the floor. Strange marks covered its surface. The marks began to glow the moment the rings came near.

The warehouse door finally broke open.

Lila walked in through the rain and twisted metal. Blue light wrapped around both her arms.

“You cannot save him, Kael. The bloodline ends tonight.”

Kael stood in front of the stone circle and raised both rings.

The system spoke again.

[Final choice for this mission.]

[Use both rings to activate the seal.]

[Warning: Activating the seal will erase one core memory of Theo.]

[The memory of the day you adopted him will be lost forever.]

Kael’s heart stopped for a second.

That memory was the center of everything. The day the small boy had first called him “Daddy.” The day he had promised to protect him no matter what.

Lila raised both hands. A larger spear of blue light formed above her head.

Kael looked at the stone circle, then back toward the crates where Theo was hiding.

He made the only choice he could.

“Activate the seal.”

The two silver rings flew from his hands and locked into the center of the stone. Bright white light exploded upward. The blue spear Lila threw hit the light and shattered.

Lila screamed and staggered back. The third ring on her finger cracked.

Kael fell to his knees. A deep, cold emptiness opened in his chest. He tried to remember the day he had brought Theo home. The picture was gone. He knew the boy was his son, but the moment it began had been taken.

Tears ran down his face, but he did not make a sound.

The white light faded. The stone circle went dark again. Both silver rings dropped to the floor, now dull and ordinary.

Lila was on one knee, breathing hard. The blue light around her was weaker. The cracked third ring no longer glowed.

She looked at Kael with pure hate.

“This is not over. They will send something worse next time.”

Then she turned and walked back into the rain. The black cars outside started their engines and followed her.

Silence filled the warehouse.

Seren helped Kael to his feet. Rook brought Theo out from behind the crates. The boy ran straight to Kael and held on tight.

Kael wrapped his arms around him. He could not remember the first day, but he still knew the feeling.

The system spoke one last time.

[Seal temporarily closed.]

[Warning: The force behind Lila’s system has marked you.]

[Next enemy will arrive within 48 hours.]

[New mission will be issued at sunrise.]

Kael held his son and stared at the dull rings on the floor.

He had won this fight.

But the real war had just begun.